Target-pigeon.



" I', B. MILLS.

TARGET PIGEGN.A AEPLIUATION FILED HAY 1.5, 1907.

A., VTo all 'whom it lmay concern:

FREDRICK B. MILLS, OF LONGBEACH, CALIFORXIA.

' TARGET-Prenoti.

Beit known that I, Fui-mincir B. MILLS, a citizen of the United States; residing at Longbeach, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Target-Pigeons,

of which the follow-ir@ is a specification.

This invention relates to .frangible disks l provided for target practice, and an object of the invention is to produce a disk of a form superior to any heretofore known whereby the penetration of the disk by a bird-shot will invariablv cause the disk to break.

As is well understood in the art, target pigeons for practice in inarksinanship with shot-guns or rifles, are made of a circular form, being hollow on one side and are arranged to be thrown from a spring trap, the character of' the structure being such that' when so thrown thesail through the air imitating in a measure the flight of a bird. It is necessary that sut-li disks be of sufficient strength to allow them to he transported without danger of breakage, and it 1s also necessary that they be sufliciently fiangible to cause them to be broken when struck by bird-shot from a shot-gun. Yarious forms of such disks have heretofore been made, but in practice I find that 'with all of such forms their stiiicture is such that bird-shot may,

'in some instances, strike the same at such whether o r no a shot tsss taken effect thereon.

This invention relates specifically to an improvement in the forni of said disks whereby the breakingr of the disk by the shot while in the airis assnied.

It also includes the construction hereinafter particulaiiy set forth whereby the disk is more ei'fectly basnced for true flight through t ie air.

It is important under the rules of target shooting that the disks sliall invariably break when struck b va shot-r'orotliei-.\isea-lost bird is scored. It frequently occurs that a target. may be hit so as to knock the dust ont of the same, thus showing that the shot has taken effect, but under the rules, unless a perceptible piece is broken rom the target it is called a lost bird and does not score in favor Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 15, 1907. .Serial No. 373,865.

disk from the right of Fie'. 1.

.Patented Sept. 22, 1908.

of the mark'sman who fired the shot.' I have seen heretofore approved targets which have been penetrated by seven pellets Without a visible piece being broken so that the shot could be scored in favor of thc marksman. Y

I have carefully experimentedwith the target-pigeon invented by me and hereinafter described, and have broken many by ellets fired by as hot-gun, but in no instance ias one of them been struck by a shot without being broken.

Another advantage from the new form of target-pigeon hereinafter described is the im roveincnt in the fiight thereof.

t will be noted that. pigeons constructed in accordance with this invention fly truer and are less affected by wind.

Figure 1 is a mid-section of the disk on line QoL-x1, Figs. 2 and Fig. 2 is a View of the g Fig. 3 is a view of the.- disk from the lei'tof Fig. 1. Fig. 4.is a perspective view of a disk in flight.

In Fig. `1 dotted lines indicate the form of another target nested with the target shown, thus to make more ap'iarent the peculiarities of the form illustrated.

The target comprises a hollow body having formed integral therewith a series of diametrically diminishing uninterrupted annuli 1, 2, 3, the smallestof which is hollow and is in the apex of the body, and has outwardly and inwardly inclined wahs 4, 5, respectively, having uninterrupted annular faces, the inwardly-inclined wall 5 terminating in a fiat diaphragm or plate 6 forming the floor of a. plainfaced dish on 'the obverse side of the target, the reverse side being hollow, and said dish constituting about one-third the. thickness or depth of the entire body. By this construction the target is provided with two open chambers a, b, the latter being shallow as com iared with the former, its depth being somewhat over a third of the depth of the deeper hollow or chamber a, and said target acts on the air in such a manner as to fly with great steadiness and freedom through the -air and at the saine time is highly susceptible to be shattered by any shot that strikes it.

An annular channel 7 is formed in the inside face of the larger chamber, as clearly seen in Figs. 1 and 3;

In practical use, pellets from a shot-gun strikinfr an f of these targets in Hight invariably rea the same.

The composition of vwhich the targets are made is that commonly used for the manufacture of target-pigeons- The basa-l annnlus 1 is thicker and deeper` than either the middle annulus 2 or upper annulus 3 and the depth thereof approximates the combined depthsof the other two annuli, so that the mass of the body lies approximately in equal portions on the opposite sides of a medial plane parallel with the plane ofthe base, thereby bringing the center of gravity a iproximately into the center of such medial plane and close to the inside face of the dish, thereby 'giving great Stability of course, and steadiness of flight when thehody is sprung from the traplt is to be noted that the outside face of the diaphragm 6 is located interiorly from'the plane of the apex of the annular channel 7,

and .that the target is thus provided exteriorly of said dia. lu'agtn with a hollow wall throuo'h both lim )s o*e which a shot may pass after being deflected from the diaphragnt, wherefore it is not necessary that' the shot shall strike the diaphragm at suoli an angle as to pierce the same, and the probabilitiesA that every shot which strikes the target will be effective to break it. are greatly increased. -I claimzfa 1. A target comprising an integral unit havingr a series of gradually-diametrically diminishing uninterrupted annuli, the Sina-llest of which has inwarfliy and outwardly inclined walls, the inwardly-inclined walls terminating in'a llat area and fori-ning substantially a plain-faced dish on one sid`e`of the\ target, said dish constituting approximately .40 one-,third the thickness of the unit. rr

2. A target comprising a hollow annular hody haringr a depression centrally thereof in the uppermost portion forming a dish said A central depression being plain fmdfg* bound by a hollow inclined wall, and constitotingF approximately one-third the thickness of the body.

3. A target comprising a hollow body having formed integral therewith a series of dia- 5g metrically-diminishing uninterrupted annuli the smallest of which is hollow and is in the apex of the body and has inwardly and outwardly inclined walls, the inwardly-inclined l well terminating in .i flat area forming a plain-fared dish on one side of the target, the reverse side being hollow, and said dish constituting approximately one-third the thickness of the body.

4. A target comprising a hollow annular 60 disk havingr in the uppermost iortion of the same a plein-faced depression Ibounded by a hollow annular wall having uninterrupted annular faces inclined inwardly and outwardly, and being in depth about one-third 'the depth of the body;

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles California this 7th day of May 1907.

' FREDRICK B. HILLS.

In presence ofi JAMES R. Towxsnxn, Cmus'rixn 'Jonxsoan 

